Seminar by Dr. Ahmed Sabbir Arif (Ryerson University)

Speaker: Dr. Ahmed Sabbir Arif
                Ryerson University

Title: Efficient Text Entry and Smart Error Correction/Prevention

Date: Wednesday, March 2nd, 2016

Time: 10:30-12pm

Place: EV3.309

ABSTRACT

Text entry has become an essential part of our everyday life. It is not limited to typewriters, computers, and mobile phones anymore. Nowadays, we input text with game controllers and television remote controls, and on smartwatches, smart eyewear, and navigation systems. As a result, users are drawn to techniques that are not only fast and accurate but also enable text entry in unconventional settings and with new devices. Text entry involves both cognitive and motor skills and a close cooperation between the system and the user. Therefore, it is essential that novel techniques be developed with due consideration of both human and system factors.

In this talk, I first discuss the key findings of my investigations of the theoretical and behavioral aspects of text entry and error correction. Then I present a set of novel techniques that take these aspects into account by making the entry of erroneous characters more difficult. This reduces the time required to reject unwanted word suggestions in a predictive system, eliminates the need for swapping between different keyboard layouts for the entry of special characters, and ultimately reduces the overall error correction effort. I then elaborate on alterative interaction modalities (i.e., touch pressure and gestures), basic language models, and the potential impact on the industry. I conclude with a brief overview of my current and future projects, such as text entry techniques for smartwatches, non-traditional users (i.e., young children and users with special needs), and other unexplored domains (i.e., medical and scientific equipment).

BIO

Ahmed Sabbir Arif is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Ryerson University. His research concentrates on the design and development of novel input and interaction techniques. Following up on his PhD work in Computer Science at York University, a major thread of his work focuses on smarter solutions for text entry, error correction, and editing on various devices. Towards that, he studies existing systems, identifies issues with them, and then targets those issues from theoretical, behavioral, and practical standpoints. His other interests include mobile interactions and tangible user interfaces. Moreover, he is currently collaborating with the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) on biomedical data visualization and manipulation. He has also worked with Flowton Technologies as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Microsoft Research, Redmond as a Research Intern.